AS its name implies, City Power powers the city. It distributes electricity, bought from bulk generators, to Joburg, keeping the city’s residents warm and its lights burning.

City Power Johannesburg (Pty) Limited is a separate company, with the City of Johannesburg as its sole shareholder. Joburg has embraced a vision to become a world-class African city and, in line with this vision, City Power aims to become a world-class electricity utility.

In South Africa, 90 percent of electricity is produced from coal, the country’s most abundant source of primary energy. City Power does not make power, but rather buys it from major generators; the cost of this energy varies throughout the day and the year. At peak demand - generally mid-morning and early evening and during the colder winter months - the cost of energy is at its highest.

In line with most electricity utilities worldwide, City Power has introduced an energy management system. This limits the amount of electricity bought during the expensive peak periods; the savings made here can then be passed on to consumers in the form of reduced tariff increases.

One of the most widely used methods of energy management is to switch off water geysers remotely for limited periods during peak demand. Generally, consumers are unaware of this and they are not inconvenienced as the water in their geysers is already hot before they are switched off. City Power has installed this type of energy management system extensively across Joburg.

Its public lighting division is responsible for installing, operating and maintaining Joburg’s public lighting network, or streetlights. It also looks after the streetlights in certain areas supplied by Eskom, such as Soweto and Sandton. Eskom is the country’s main generator of electricity.